Where are you with your graduate program now?
I’ve just graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where I studied how our bodies handle cholesterol for my dissertation in the laboratory of Michael S. Brown, MD and Joseph L. Goldstein, MD. Currently, I am a resident in the Department of Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA and aim to further my career as a physician-scientist through the Stanbury Physician-Scientist Pathway.
Can you tell us more about your graduate studieswhat questions were you/are you pursuing? What was/is the main focus of your studies?
For my PhD research in the Brown/Goldstein laboratory, I used CRISPR gene-editing technology to find genes required for cholesterol to move from one membrane to another in human cells. Genetic defects in this movement can cause fatal human diseases such as atherosclerosis (common) and Niemann-Pick disease, type C (rare). I discovered that this movement requires another lipid named phosphatidylserine, a discovery with implications for membrane biology and cardiovascular science.
There are so many paths beyond college—why did you feel graduate school was the best next step for you personally and/or professionally?
My undergraduate research in the Brown/Goldstein laboratory and a summer stint at the NIH showed me the path to become a physician scientist via an MD/PhD program.
Do you have any favorite memories from the past two years as a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow?
Hands down the Fall Conferences where I met the other Fellows—it is certainly the highlight of my time with the Fellowship.
You’re now finishing up your second year of the Fellowship program. Has the Fellowship been what you expected?
It has been all I expected and more. The friendships and bonds between Fellows is incredible and will last throughout my professional career! ∎